


Empty and Desolate is the Sea

by god_is_undead



Category: Cowboy Bebop (Anime)
Genre: Actual Violence, Backstory, Blood and Violence, Character Study, Crack Treated Seriously, Disturbing Themes, Eventually Will Be Brought Up, Fish out of Water, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Including But Not Limited To - Freeform, Insecurity, Is there a tag for, Kidnapping, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Past Child Abuse, Past Domestic Violence, Past Fucked Up Life Okay, Past Sexual Abuse, Past Violence, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, This Does Not Excuse His Bullshit, Threats of Violence, Vicious has Issues, Vicious is Not Nice, What Was I Thinking?, and, and yet it is, as for the OC, because that's what happened, falling into one's television, i say mostly for a reason y'all, it isn't a huge part, it isn't huge because ellie has mostly come to terms with it, mostly of vicious, my eternal love for, this is all spliced with, very slow burn, yes we are going there in this same fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-22 23:17:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20000119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/god_is_undead/pseuds/god_is_undead
Summary: With nowhere else to go and no way to get off Mars after he is ousted from the Red Dragons, having pissed everybody off and lately been captured shortly after his last fight with Spike while still mostly dead (he got...mostly better), Vicious goes back to the one place he never wanted to go back to, which no one else knows about and would never think to look anyway: his grandparents. Vicious is *really* not used to life on a farm, and chores is a word that is not in his vocabulary.Along for the ride is 1/4 of the reason everything went to hell. (Turns out his grandmother likes her a lot better than she likes him. Ellie thinks her pygmy goats are cute.)This, folks, is on the surface some completely self-indulgent 100 kilos of 100% uncut Columbian Bam-Bam. It's is an absolutely absurd premise, but it's played 110% straight; this fic will go to very dark and disturbing places, and you need to ***READ THE TAGS FIRST*** because no, I'm not responsible for policing your reading choices. Do not click on that button if you can't handle the themes they state.





	Empty and Desolate is the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> With the Netflix live action remake coming, I'm entirely sure there will be an interesting resurgence in this fandom, which I'm both looking forward to and...not. I'm not pleased about some of the changes I've heard they're making because I believe they detract from the original story's arc. And so: THIS FIC WILL ONLY AND EVER DEAL WITH THE ANIME VERSION.
> 
> Vicious is by every definition Not a nice man, but I really always hated portraying him as slaveringly psychotic. So just...sit tight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things will make sense soon.

Blood—not Vicious’ own—webbed the pale skin of his hollow cheeks, and ran down his long throat. Ghostly gray hair hung like a ragged shroud around his rawboned face, flecked in red. In the silence after killing, standing in the middle of the _Bebop_ ’s living room, he seemed more alive than he had been for the last week, during which he had been chained to a ladder. 

He straightened up suddenly, flicked blood off his sword in one darkly elegant motion, and then put it away. It made a soft clattering sound. He twisted around and turned a deadish stare on Ellie, where it lingered for several seconds in silence. His eyes made her think of a corpse’s pale, milky blue, and they had at once a sense of extreme focus and a total lack thereof. His stare was closer to an animal driven by basic instinct than human rationality, soulless and cold-blooded. 

“Come here.” 

Ellie froze. His gaze grew exponentially colder. 

When she still didn’t move, he came to her, slowly and deliberately. Stalking. Ellie, sitting and curled up behind a crate, could only watch him approach. She lacked the strength to stand. When Ellie was standing he still had a head and shoulders on her, and now he loomed so tall she had to crane her neck back. 

“Get up,” he ordered. “Or die here.” 

“So I can die somewhere else?” she shot back, and later wondered what the _fuck_ she was thinking. In all reality, she wasn’t thinking. She was reacting. 

He smiled, a sickle-sharp and tiny curve of his mouth. His eyes glittered like the surface of a cold, cold stone as he studied her upturned face. 

“You’re more useful to me alive.” 

* * *

* 

Ellie was marched off the _Bebop_ and onto the pier by an elbow clutched in Vicious’ grasp, his other arm around her waist, keeping her pinned at his side. It was awkward at best because she couldn’t match his stride. Ellie had to take two to his one. She was concentrating on how much that all hurt and sucked and wondering where the fuck Jet or Faye or anyone else was, or else she might have seen the next part coming. 

Vicious flung her around and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, placing her directly in front of him--and a knife pressed just below her ear. 

Ellie yelped and startled in pure reflex. The grasp on her shoulders contracted, the knife point pressed. She reached up and grabbed at Vicious’ arm. 

He leaned close to her ear, his arm tightening somewhat more. His voice never got emotional, but it was icy, and brooked no argument. "Don't struggle." 

She didn't let go at first; she could only let out a whimper. He squeezed her shoulder in warning, digging his fingers into her flesh hard enough that she cried out again. 

" _Do as you're_ _told_." His mouth was near enough her ear that Ellie could feel his breath rasp against her inner ear. 

"Let her go, asshole!" 

Ellie opened her eyes and looked across the pier, at Jet, who held his weapon out and pointed. 

"Stand down or you can watch her die in front of you." There was bleak amusement there, lurking. 

" _Jet—_ " 

" _Quiet_ ," Vicious snapped. " _Put your fucking hands down_." Ellie felt warm wetness against her skin. She could smell iron. 

"Do as he says, Ellie," Jet said, terse, lowering his weapon from the ready. 

Ellie finally peeled her hands from Vicious' arm and dropped them to her sides. She shut her eyes tightly. 

"Put your weapon on the ground." 

"I will, but I can't let you leave with Ellie." 

She heard his humorless chuckle, though Jet might not have. "You will do both. You have no way of forcing me to let her go. And if you follow us, you'll get back only a body." 

After a few seconds, Ellie heard Jet put his gun on the ground. 

"Kick it into the water." 

She heard the splash. 

He dragged her sideways, towards an alleyway between the warehouses. Ellie kept her eyes shut the whole time, counting her breaths. 

When they had, apparently, moved away far enough to satisfy him, he pushed her out of his immediate grasp and took hold of her elbow again. 

* * *

* 

Vicious must have only killed the first wave inside the _Bebop_ , because a second syndicate hit squad found them at the edge of the port district. Ellie had the presence of mind to wrench herself away and fling herself behind cover before Vicious could use her as a bullet sponge, but it left her trapped in place. Was Jet okay? Faye? Ed and Ein? She hoped so...

For a while everybody left her alone, since she wasn’t the target. She stayed put, hoping the fire would burn itself out, but... 

She looked up at one point to see a man leering down at her. He raised his gun— 

The pointy end of a katana emerged without warning from within the man's throat; for a second he didn't seem to understand what was happening. Then, when it was pulled out, and a great gout of blood poured from it and his mouth, he coughed in surprise and confusion, spraying blood on Ellie. 

He fell like a sack. 

Vicious again flicked blood off the sword and put it away. He bent over long enough to grab her elbow and drag her back to her feet. Ellie was in shock; she almost fell over again. 

" _Move_ ,” he snarled into her ear, the first time he’d ever raised his voice at her. Through it rained hellfire, and raised the hairs on the back of her neck. 

Ellie went. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love comments and constructive critique.


End file.
